Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified in Texas? Are you interested in teaching English in Appleby, Texas? Check out our opportunities in Appleby, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English in your community or abroad! Teflonline.net offers a wide variety of Online TESOL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Here Below you can check out the feedback (for one of our units) of one of the 16.000 students that last year took an online course with ITTT!
In this Unit, I learned about the common problems that teachers experience in their English classes such as dealing with new students, large classes, students with different skill levels, reluctant students and so forth. The first few days of the class can be exciting but tough as the teacher faces a lot of challenges to get a sense of the real English situation. These first few days are vital in establishing rapport with the students, getting to know them, assessing their individual language skills, needs and aspirations in learning English. Thus, considering these things, the teacher will be able to plan the appropriate language course and activities for the students. Using questionnaire or survey as Introduction activity is a fun and engaging way to learn about the new students. Students ask something about their partner and introduce them in class. This gives them real English experience as well.
Warm up activities such as tongue twisters, hangman, memory games, use of Pictionary and memory game are important as it helps lessen the pressure a little so that students will be motivated to focus on the lesson. It should be fun and kept short.
Large classes can bring problems on class discipline, student`s motivation and participation, as well as on the teacher`s workloads. It is difficult to give much fair individual attention to each student`s needs, especially on speaking. Inevitably, the class becomes more teacher oriented. I learned some strategies to deal with Large classes. It is important to make our voice loud and clear to the whole class. Clear instructions are essential. Pair or Group work is a good way to maximize the student`s participation. To help manage the class easier, it is best to assign group leaders to help in distributing copies, collecting worksheet answers, and keeping control of the class.
Class with varied skill levels can be frustrating at times. It makes lesson planning problematic because it is difficult to meet the needs of the students without neglecting one student`s needs over the other. Activities may be too boring for stronger students and may become disruptive in class. To deal with this, activities should also be varied. We should be able to come up with different topics or activity ideas. Itis good to give more works that challenges the stronger students. Moreover, it is good to pair or group stronger students with weaker students. stronger Students can make instructions clearer for a weaker student and so will be able to participate confidently. Though, we should make sure stronger students will not dominate the group because this will make the weaker ones talk less or unmotivated to participate. I also learned about dealing with reluctant students and the problems with listening texts.
I`m really grateful to learn about these things. It is important to know the real struggles and challenges of teaching English and how to deal with them. I learned a lot from this course. It gave me the confidence that I can be a good and effective teacher. I am excited to start my career as an English teacher in the near future.
